1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to object-oriented computer systems, and in particular to providing intelligent proxy objects in an object-oriented computer system.
2. Description of Related Art
In some object-oriented computer systems, a word processing program is used to create a document. The document can include an object, such as a spreadsheet object created using a spreadsheet program. When a user is editing the document, the user may want to edit (e.g., modify, display, or print) the spreadsheet object. However, the user can only edit the spreadsheet object if the spreadsheet program is available to the user. When the spreadsheet program is not available, the user must wait for the spreadsheet program to become available in order to edit the spreadsheet object.
There is a need in the art to enable a user to edit an object when its associated application program ("object-controlling application program") is not available.